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The Maverick M.D.

The Maverick M.D.

When Nick Gonzalez was a medical student, he stood beside his father’s deathbed and vowed that he would find a cure for cancer. Nick imagined his future as a researcher toiling away in a lab in Memorial Sloan Kettering, working on conventional approaches to the disease. Yet Gonzalez’s life was anything but conventional. At the urging of Linus Pauling, he had already left an accomplished journalism career and entered Cornell Medical School.

Gonzalez’s path took another turn when he met the controversial Dr. William Kelley, a dentist who, through an alternative nutritional approach, had arrested his own pancreatic cancer. Kelley had become infamous when he’d tried to help others.

The Maverick M.D. is the story of how Dr. Nick Gonzalez perfected the scientific theory behind Kelley’s work and put the protocol into practice in New York City. Gonzalez drew courage from his Christian faith, from his Mexican-Italian-American family, and from key loved ones, colleagues and mentors. He spent years treating patients with the most serious conditions–from cancer to diabetes to lupus. But he wasn’t satisfied as an outlier in the medical community. He wanted his work put to the test with a clinical trial.

This book portrays a man who fought for the acceptance of a nutritional cancer treatment in the halls of some of the most established U.S. medical institutions. Against intense opposition, Nick Gonzalez’s determination held up until the end–a scientist who developed a therapy that saves lives and promotes the healing of the human mind, body and spirit.

Praise for The Maverick M.D.

“With a captivating narrative style – Mary Swander takes the reader on the intense journey which was the life and work of Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez. Every physician and any layfolk interested in health should know of this man, for if the medical science establishment was a true meritocracy, his name would be household. Thanks to Ms. Swander, we can open our mind’s eye to his intellect and training – honed through classrooms, labs, hospital wards, meetings with remarkable mentors, athletic fields, and through life’s lessons; And witness his dedication, integrity, and resilience – all matched up against many of the perverting influences that have co-opted the medical profession, and science in general. To the very end – he faced them with resounding dignity and resolve, all the while continuing to heal the toughest cancer cases at an incomparable success rate. I am grateful to this physician scientist. This book allowed me to further and more deeply appreciate his life and contributions.”


Faiz Khan, M.D.,
Dual Board Emergency / Internal Medicine, Former Chair of Emergency Medicine, Former Chair of Medical Ethics, and Founder of CityMD Urgent Care

“Mary Swander’s biography The Maverick M.D. captures Dr. Nick Gonzalez’s fearlessness and determination to help cancer patients restore their health. I’ve never met a man with more integrity and conviction of his work. As a cancer patient myself, I have benefited from The Gonzalez Protocol, and I will be forever grateful to him.”


Suzanne Somers,
Entertainer and Author of 26 books, including Knockout: Interviews with Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer and How to Prevent Getting It in the Fist Place

“Mary Swander’s biography of Nicholas Gonzalez, The Maverick M.D. is a brilliant portrayal of a man who devoted his entire life to finding an alternative cure for cancer. Yet, as we have witnessed, like many medical pioneers who dare to go against the grain of established theory, Gonzalez had to put up a fierce fight to have his research put to the test, and the door to his own medical practice kept open. In crystal clear prose, Swander has created a thriller, a vivid dramatization of the tension, roadblocks and intrigue this Ivy-League, conventionally trained doctor dealt with to the end. Anyone interested in discovering a different approach to cancer and other degenerative diseases should read this book.”


Ty and Charlene Bollinger,
Founders of The Truth About Cancer

“Nicholas Gonzalez was a very amazing person and physician. His life story is an inspiration. This book takes you on a journey beginning with his family origins in Mexico and Italy. His Mexican ancestors survived revolution, war, and very difficult circumstances but throughout all that they thrived as musicians and as a tight-knit family. The story of his Mexican ancestors just barely making it through Ellis Island is very moving, like many things in the book. These family strengths, courage and determination shine out in Dr. Gonzalez’s creativity, persistence and brilliance as a cancer doctor. His legacy and his gifts to cancer patients live on in these pages.”


Colin A. Ross, M.D.,
founder and President of
The Colin A. Ross Institute for Psychological Trauma

Pre-Order Your Copies Today! Books Will Ship by The End of November 2020









Nicholas J. Gonzalez, M.D.

Nicholas James Gonzalez, M.D., was born in Flushing, New York, and graduated from Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, with a degree in English Literature. He subsequently worked as a journalist, first at Time, Inc., before pursuing premedical studies at Columbia. He then received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1983. During a post graduate immunology fellowship under Dr. Robert A. Good, considered the father of immunology, he completed a research study evaluating an aggressive nutritional therapy in the treatment of advanced cancer.

In private practice in New York City from 1987, Dr. Gonzalez treated patients diagnosed with cancer and other serious degenerative illnesses. His nutritional research has received substantial financial support from Proctor and Gamble and Nestlé. Results from a pilot study published in 1999 described the most positive data in the medical literature for pancreatic cancer. He died in July 2015.

dr-nicholas-gonzalez

“Your only job is to love the Truth, everyday.”

Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez

The Maverick M.D.

Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez and His Fight for a New Cancer Treatment

The Authorized Biography by Mary Swander









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